It felt like it had been hours since the impromptu Saturday morning company meeting ended. Dan just sat there in his apartment kitchen, dazed, staring at the black computer screen. It had long since powered down due to inactivity.
No matter how many times Dan went over the numbers in his head, there just was no way to make the financials of the new situation work. He still couldn't believe his company was cutting his salary by 40% and expected him to react with a smile for the good of the company.
He was going to have some words with Walt when he saw him on Monday. The hard truth of the matter was that his family had just reached some level of stability. With the pay cut, there was no way they could afford their mortgage payments and the rent on the apartment. If Dan moved back to Middleton, then they'd eventually lose the house. Back home, there simply wasn't any work to be found in his field or any other jobs that he would be qualified for.
He sat there in what felt like a catatonic state, his brain trying to process and find a solution. Perhaps he'd have to find a second job to try to make ends meet. He couldn't believe, at this stage in his life and with the experiences he had behind him, that this was something he even had to consider. It felt like he was backsliding and the walls were closing in. The idea of him standing behind a counter taking a fast food order from a group of teenagers felt utterly humiliating to him.
Dan unconsciously ground his teeth together at the realization that his sabotage of Jessie could have very likely tipped the scales. Without the regular cash flow from the Lincoln Group, it seemed like the company couldn't make ends meet.
He continued to sit there in his near catatonic state until he heard stirring from the other end of the apartment. Sarah must be getting up. He could keep sitting here, eventually, she would come to find him.
What if Lester intercepted her first? That was the last thing he needed, his creepy roommate trying something this morning. Dan knew he'd played a fairly passive role the previous night, just allowing the events to unfold, but he wasn't sure he would be able to hold back his frustration and rage if Lester crossed his path today.
Dan was relieved when he heard the bathroom door close. After a few minutes, he finally stood up, shut his laptop and left the kitchen. As he started to cross the living room, his radiant wife stepped out of the bathroom and turned to look in his direction.
An alluring smile spread across her features as she made eye contact. Even in her pajamas and her messy hair she still looked better than most of the women Dan encountered on a regular basis.
"Morning, baby," Sarah said as she walked towards him. "How did you sleep? I was thinking maybe we can grab dinner tonight and talk about what happened yesterday. I brought that black dress and I was thinking --"
Sarah stopped in her tracks as she entered the living room. She could tell something was wrong with him. "Dan, what's the matter?"
Dan felt his shoulders involuntarily slump forward as he exhaled a long breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. It felt like the walls of the apartment were closing in around him. "Let's sit." Sarah eyed him warily, knowing that something was amiss but unsure what it could be.
Dan motioned toward the couch and sat down. It dawned on him that he had avoided sitting here earlier but he just needed to sit anywhere other than in front of his laptop screen.
Sarah sat across from him, her body turned in his direction with a mask of worry on her face. "Dan, what's going on, you're scaring me. Did things go too far last night? I thought they kind of did at the end. It's always about you, I'm trying to turn you on."
Dan held up his hand, causing Sarah to stop talking. He focused his eyes on the couch between them. "No, it's not that. I mean, yeah, we need to talk about that, I still can't believe it, but no, this is something else. Work sent a message this morning asking everyone to jump on a call."
He took a breath and continued, "Anyway, most people in the company got on there and the head of HR started talking about the company and our loyalty to it but in the end, she announced everyone in the company was getting their wages reduced by forty percent."
Dan finally looked up and met his wife's gaze.
"Forty percent," Sarah said angrily. "Forty percent? They can't do that, Dan! That's huge! We can't....that's a lot of money. Dan, I..I don't know what to say. Fucking bastards - that's going to kill us."
"I know," Dan sighed. He had worked so hard over the past few months to keep his company afloat and now he felt like the boulder he'd been carrying was finally about to crush him.
"Why?" Sarah said, her voice now sounding more scared than angry. "Why did they do that? What reason did they give?"
"Business is a lot slower than expected and they've lost a few clients lately." Dan omitted that the pull-out by the Lincoln Group had likely played a big part in all of this.
"Okay...okay," Sarah said, as she leaped from the couch and ran into the bedroom. A minute later, she returned with her phone along with a pen and notepad. She sat back down and immediately started writing on the notepad. Dan stayed silent, knowing she was likely doing the same calculations he had been running through.
Finally, she looked up at him. "Dan...I don't know how we make this work."
"I don't know either."
"This is bad timing. Really bad timing. I just registered the girls in swimming lessons and the fee isn't refundable. I was banking on paying off the card with your next paycheck before our mortgage gets taken out. Fuck, what do we do."
"We'll figure something out," Dan mumbled, his eyes unfocused. They had always figured something out, right? He tried to tell himself this would be just like all those other times, but he was having trouble convincing himself.
He felt warm hands on his. He looked down and saw Sarah's tender hands encircling his. The image of her hand around Lester's cock from the previous night flashed into his mind.
Dan looked up at his wife. She had closed the distance between them and was sitting right next to him. She was looking up into his eyes with a determined smile on her face. He knew she wasn't really feeling brave but was putting on a confident front for his sake.
"You are right," she said firmly. "We will figure it out, that's what we do. We'll look for some areas to cut back and see what other moves we can make. I might have some stuff in the basement I could put on Facebook marketplace to help cover some bills. We'll figure it out."
The sound of a door opening caused the couple to pause. Lester emerged from the hallway, wearing only a ratty pair of boxers that caused his naked stomach to bulge out, "Hey, there..."
"Not now, Lester," Sarah snapped at him. She turned her attention back to Dan.
"Hey," Lester said, throwing his hands up in frustration. "What did I do now? Buyer's remorse for all my cum you drank last night?"
Dan watched Sarah's face turn beet red. She turned back to Lester, "No, Lester, not everything is about you. Got it? Dan just got some bad news from work and we are working on figuring it out, okay?"
"Okay, okay," Lester said, trying to walk back his previous comments, "That sucks. What was the news?"
